Our ruck to midfield connection

[PyreneesPie]

[Pies2016]

[Ronnie McKeowns boots]

[Pies4shaw]

An article on Footscray's list management, for anyone interested. It suggests that Bontempelli's market price for his next contract (due now) is understood to be in the range $1.2M to $1.3M per season.

https://www.afl.com.au/news/583383/the-bulldogs-budget-it-s-not-just-about-bont-bucks-but-who-else-

I guess the message is that recruiting Scharenberg and Freeman didn't create such a salary cap hit for Collingwood.

[5 from the wing on debut]

Interesting article in so far as the Dogs' supposed opinion about Treloar.

"But the Dogs, on the back of two elimination final defeats in 2019-20, saw Treloar as a marquee chip who could move the needle from finals fill-ins to a premiership shot"

[Pies4shaw]

[Pies4shaw]

And, to add to the general hilarity, one sees that Footscray has been thrashed in the hit-outs in 3 out of 4 games (19-46, 21-52, 17-34 and 40-35). Yet, the only time it lost the clearances was the day it won the hitouts - are people seriously going to suggest that somehow the Footscray ruckmen became magically incapable of getting the ball to their mids the day they had 40 hitouts? It doesn't stack up. It's a nonsense narrative.

What the teams that are winning do generally do (for the most part - there are variations in game style - Brisbane has lost the stats all 4 weeks) is win the contested possession battle. Footscray have won that 4-0, Collingwood have won it twice (the week we won and the week we almost won), Melbourne has won it 3 times (they lost it to Fremantle) and Sydney have won it 4 times. Mostly those contested possessions are won in larger numbers by your midfielders. At Collingwood, our leading contested possession winners in the first 4 weeks were Pendlebury, Adams, Grundy and Grundy. But a careful review of individual player stats at Collingwood suggests that players who need to get first hands to the ball simply don't. The Coach says repeatedly (and did so, again, many times in his press conference today) that winning a game of footy is about winning the contested footy. Whatever some other teams do or don't do as a game strategy, it shouldn't come as a surprise that Collingwood doesn't win the game if it doesn't win contested possessions. In short, we play a contested style of game, deliberately and by design - this is a problem because, at the moment, we suck at it.

[BazBoy]

I would like to adopt the veiw as to a few things that may transpire over the next month

With Beau settling in to a defensive forward with excellent tackling to hold ball in the 50—then he also adds a regular scoring plus

This could release JDG to more mid field time

Add to that the intro of Fin and what that will bring to the mid field

Point is we don’t know of course but with JDG and the rapid learning from Fin may push our clearance numbers up —-from what I’ve seen of Poulter he may be a further plus

As I said I’ll adopt a wait and watch

[Magpietothemax]

i think one of the main issues with the synergy between our midfield and mids is simply the gross imbalance in the attributes of our mids. P4S keeps emphasizing Treloar's deficiencies and says he is glad we cut our losses, but the whole issue is that Adz is not an inside mid. He is the one who gives you speed on the outside (we don't have any of those, now that both he and Stepho have gone). Our only true inside mid was and is Tay (not counting Sier yet because he hasnt proven himself yet). We never were able to use Adz in the way he was meant to be used (see Western Bulldogs). Clearly, Grundy is a great footballer and ruckman, but our midfield balance has never fully complemented him, and now more than ever is far askew.

[RudeBoy]

To paraphrase Bill Clinton "it's the midfield stupid!"

Grundy is fine. Our big problem are our midfielders. Apart from Pendles, individually and collectively, they are second rate. They are too one-paced and too often static around centre bounces and ball-ups. They rarely are moving at pace to collect hitouts. When they do get it, they too often hold up play, rather than moving it forward with pace and precision.

To my eye, our best potential midfielder is being 'wasted' in defence. Isaac Quaynor. He is a master of the one grab, weaving and spinning around opponents, and is a masterful disposer of the ball, with long precise kicking. He is also powerfully built, which is essential attribute to play on the ball. Tyler Brown is also a future gun mid, with great size and lightning handball skills. A midfield built around Quaynor, T Brown and Macrae is the future. It should begin now. Although he continues to frustrate, I'd also persevere with Sier, as we need his bulk. It's now time for a changing of the guard. Pendles and Sidey should be moved forward or back, with a younger, quicker and more attacking midfield brigade given this season to build cohesion for next year.

[RudeBoy]

DP

[Pies2016]

[RudeBoy]

I'm having trouble disagreeing with any of that P2016.

[slangman]

[RudeBoy]

The good news is that Poulter looks the goods, with a BOG performance (imo) in the VFL today. Unfortunately, neither WHE nor Cox did enough to warrant a recall, but Murphy looks like a ready made upgrade on Mayne.